Imagine being taken to the most exciting places in the world — a cinema, a beautiful park, a new city — but every single time, someone covers your eyes the moment you arrive. Sounds unbearable, right?
That’s exactly what we do to our dogs when we rush them on a short leash and stop them from sniffing.
Smell is a Dog’s Primary Sense
Humans are visual beings. Our world is built around what we can see. We go to the cinema to enjoy moving images. We stare at our phones, our food, each other’s faces. Vision gives us the majority of our information about the world around us.
For dogs, smell is that primary sense.
A dog’s nose contains up to 300 million olfactory receptors — humans have about six million. The part of a dog’s brain devoted to analysing smells is proportionally forty times larger than ours. When your dog stops to sniff a lamppost or a patch of grass, they’re not wasting time. They’re reading — experiencing their world at full depth and richness.
What Your Dog Learns From a Single Sniff
Every smell tells a story. By sniffing a spot on the ground, your dog can detect:
- How long ago another dog was there — scent fades in predictable ways that dogs can read like a timestamp
- Age, sex, and reproductive status of the dog who left the mark
- Emotional state and mood — stress hormones, excitement, fear leave distinct chemical signatures
- What the other animal ate, its general health, and even where it has been
- Details about objects and people — just by sniffing them briefly
This is not just a pleasant extra — this is your dog’s fundamental way of understanding their environment, feeling safe, and making sense of the world.
What Happens When We Stop Them
Stopping a dog from sniffing is not a neutral act. It’s the equivalent of taking a person to:
- 🎬 The cinema and covering their eyes
- 🌳 A beautiful park and blocking their view
- 🗺️ A new city and never letting them look around
Dogs who are chronically prevented from sniffing can show signs of frustration, anxiety, and stress. They may become reactive, pull more on the leash, or seem restless and hard to settle at home. Many behavioural problems I see in my work in Munich have a root in walks that are too short, too fast, and too sniff-free.
The Sniff Walk: How to Give Your Dog a Real Walk
A proper walk isn’t about distance or speed. It’s about mental engagement. Here’s how to walk your dog in a way that actually satisfies them:
- Use a long leash (4–5 metres) — gives your dog freedom to follow their nose without pulling
- Let them choose the pace — slow is fine. Stopping is fine. Backtracking is fine.
- Follow their nose, not your route — resist the urge to keep moving when they’re deep in a smell
- Leave time — a 30-minute sniff walk tires a dog more than a 60-minute jog with no sniffing
Where to Sniff Walk in Munich
Munich is full of brilliant spots for sniff walks. My favourites for clients include:
- The Englischer Garten — vast, varied terrain, diverse smells from wildlife, people, water
- Isar riverbanks — natural, off-paved, excellent sensory variety
- Olympiapark — large, open, easy to let a dog roam on a long leash
- Perlacher Forst — wooded, excellent for forest sniffing
- Nymphenburg Park — spacious, with varied grass, gravel, and water features
Want to Go Further? Try Nose Work
If you want to give your dog’s nose a real workout, nose work is one of the most enriching activities you can do together. It turns sniffing into an active, rewarding game — your dog searches for a hidden scent, and when they find it, they get a big reward. The benefits are extraordinary:
- Reduces anxiety and reactivity
- Builds confidence in shy or fearful dogs
- Provides deep mental tiredness — better than hours of physical exercise
- Strengthens your bond
- Works for dogs of any age, size, or fitness level
I offer nose work sessions as part of my services in Munich — both for individual dogs and as a wonderful activity for dogs who find group training challenging.
The Takeaway
Next time you’re on a walk with your dog in Munich — at the Isar, in Schwabing, in the Englischer Garten — pause when they stop to sniff. Give them the time. Give them the leash. Let them have their cinema moment.
Be mindful of your dog’s needs. Next walk, let them sniff and experience the world. 🐾
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